"It was illegal because the initial contact with the defenseless quarterback's chest was made with his helmet," Signora said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "It was not a late hit. It was not a hit to the head. And he pulled off the quarterback when they hit the ground. Although it was not flagrant, as a multiple offender of the rules in this area, Harrison received a significant fine."

Can someone clarify for me the difference between a defenseless quarterback and a fully defended quarterback? Especially since he hit him in the chest. I didn't see this play for the record but I think this is a pathetic distinction in general.

Olly from Oxford, England
Perhaps the NFL's player-safety evaluators ought to have a look at the Jags-Titans game, a close, physical contest in which the run, not the pass, was dominant, and there were no personal fouls, no helmet-to-helmet hits and no hits on defenseless receivers.

Vic: The run game is the safe game. It’s in the pass game that trouble begins. That’s where we get hits on defenseless receivers, such as the one on Heath Miller that wasn’t called in last night’s game – the replay of that hit was frightening – and it’s in the pass game that we get blows to the head on the quarterback, such as the one on Ben Roethlisberger in last night’s game that resulted in a broken nose but no penalty. If player safety is as important as the league wants us to believe it is, then we need more run and less pass.http://jaguars.com/news/article.aspx?id=9596